Nearly 50 Critics Have Reviewed ‘Halloween,’ And Here’s What They Are Saying
Halloween will hit theaters in just under a month, and fans are ready. Halloween is making its rounds at a few film festivals, and horror fans are delighted that it has largely received positive reviews.
In John Carpenter’s 1978 Halloween, Jamie Lee Curtis portrays Laurie Strode, a teenager babysitting the young Tommy Doyle. It was on that fateful Halloween night when Strode came face to face with the evil Michael Myers (Nick Castle) and barely escaped with her life. In the new Halloween sequel, Curtis and Castle reprise their respective roles. It’s been 40 years since Michael nearly killed Laurie, and she has been waiting and preparing for his return.
It appears that this sequel had a lot more effort put into it than many of its predecessors, and that effort has paid off for director David Gordon Green and his crew. Green, Danny McBride, and Jeff Fradley co-wrote the film, and Judy Greer and Virginia Gardner co-star. John Carpenter is an executive producer of the new horror sequel. The original Halloween director being involved in the horror film—paired with Jamie Lee Curtis returning as Laurie Strode—has given fans hope that this installment into the franchise will be a successful one, and according to reviews by nearly 50 film critics, that seems to be the case.
.@jamieleecurtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode in HALLOWEEN, coming to theaters October 19, 2018. #HalloweenMovie pic.twitter.com/3bamCokmMi
— #HalloweenEnds (@halloweenmovie) September 15, 2017
As the Inquisitr reported, Halloween received positive reviews from a few select critics who were treated to a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, but many more reviewers have since weighed in. Thus far, Halloween has a “fresh” score of 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Out of 47 critics, 39 of them scored Halloween positively. The critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes describes the new horror sequel.
“Halloween largely wipes the slate clean after decades of disappointing sequels, ignoring increasingly elaborate mythology in favor of basic—yet still effective—ingredients.”
Many fans were skeptical when they learned that David Gordon Green, a director known mainly for making comedies like Pineapple Express, was going to direct the new horror sequel. Most critics praised Green’s directing, which comes as a sigh of relief to many fans. Brian Truitt of USA Today describes the style of Halloween.
“The director takes the audience into Laurie and Michael’s worlds with a variety of close-ups, from the multiple locks on her door to the teeth he’s violently pulled out of some unfortunate dude’s mouth. Green also throws in an innovative tracking shot following Michael on his savage door-to-door assaults (which intriguingly leave a crying baby unharmed).”
You can see some of Green’s innovative tracking shot in the Halloween trailer.
Warning: The trailer below contains some violence and gore.
Coming Soon called Halloween one of the best horror sequels in the genre. Karen Han of Vice also gave Halloween a positive review, describing the movie as both scary and funny. To no surprise, Jamie Lee Curtis’ performance has impressed the majority of critics with most of them applauding her portrayal of a survivor coping with PTSD. Several reviewers felt that Halloween isn’t about Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, but about how trauma affects an individual for the rest of their life.
Jonita Davis of Black Girl Nerds gives her takeaway from Halloween.
“As ‘Halloween’ begins to play out onscreen, it quickly becomes obvious that this story was not about Myers and Strode—it was a much more important look at how surviving isn’t living, and trauma can poison a family for several generations.”
As expected, not everyone enjoyed Halloween. The AV Club’s A.A. Dowd called the horror flick another imitation on the original and compared it to other bad Halloween sequels. We Got This Covered described it as a film that will scare off anyone with half a brain. Forbes‘ Scott Mendelson praised the acting and violence, but he panned the screenplay, describing it as “choppy” and “glorified fanfiction.”
Horror fans are used to ignoring the naysayers when it comes to some of their most beloved movies, so the few negative reviews will likely not affect their excitement. Overall, the majority of critics enjoyed David Gordon Green’s horror sequel. Several critics who enjoyed the film didn’t find it to be all that scary, but fear is often subjective. Fans can find out for themselves if Halloween is a worthy entry into the horror franchise, and if they feel it’s as scary as the original, when it premieres in cinemas on October 19.
